Posts from — March 2005

I mentioned before that I had a forum on ryze. I didn’t give out the url, because I didn’t have it memorized. Well I still don’t have it memorized, but here is the url:
http://learnsmallbusiness-network.ryze.com/
You do have to join ryze to post to the network, but it’s free so I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t join, unless you don’t want to make quality business contacts.

I just wanted to tell you guys about this site that I found that has public domain photos.
It’s free to use the photos.

http://www.pdfoto.com/

There’s also a sister site with more public domain information located at http://www.pdtimes.com/

I know it’s been quiet here and on my other blogs, but I have been busy with other things. I created my own forum hosted on my own website. This was important to me because the other place where I was hosting my forum had total control over what types of ads I could run. That bothered me so I decided to look around and I came to find out that my website came with a bulletin board!! How about that. So if you need to find some free advertising or if you know of some free advertising resources, please register at http://www.forum.pnewsletter.com and post it so we can all make use of it.

I also created a network at ryze. I didn’t really see a resource on ryze for people just starting out and needing something more than a place to post their ads. The name of my network on Ryze is Learn Small Business(Affordably). I can’t remember the url right off the top of my head, but if you are a ryze member, you can just type Learn Small Business(Affordably) in the search box. Whew that’s a wrap for me. I am going to update everyone on this new development tomorrow. Right now I’m wiped out. Good night to the two people reading my blog. LOL.

Should You Pay to Join a Home Business Opportunity?

by Loring Windblad

Copyright 2004 by http://www.organicgreens.us and Loring Windblad.
This article may be freely copied and used on other web sites only
if it is copied complete with all links and text intact and
unchanged except for minor improvements such as misspellings and typos.

If you spend any time online surfing the Internet or any time reading magazines that deal with business topics, you will more than likely run across countless business opportunity
offerings.

Business opportunities are in essence “turn-key” operations where a major company, or even a smaller company, is offering what are basically franchises or memberships in the company. Any person who joins becomes entitled to use the company name, company marketing materials and, of course, company reputation. It is therefore an easy way for many who have no inclination to start their own business, or who have no ideas of their own, to start a home-based business.

There are, however, as in anything, “pitfalls” and “advantages” to joining any type of business opportunity. Many times, one of the “pitfalls” is the fact that there is a membership price to pay when joining, which depending upon the business opportunity, can be quite a staggering fee. It is wise, then, before paying any fees to join a business opportunity to research and ascertain the following aspects of the opportunity:

1. What kind of “fees or charges” do you have to pay “up front” in order to get started?
2. How long has the business opportunity “been in business”? Longevity is important. You don’t want to join a biz op that’s “here today, gone tomorrow”, taking your fees with it!

3. How do other members feel about the business opportunity? If you can speak with other members, this would help immensely in any decisions.

4. How much money overall can you expect to make from the business opportunity within the first month? You should at least be able to recover any fees you’ve spent within the first few months.

5. How many others belong to the business opportunity? Too much competition with other members will make it difficult to make sales, while too few members indicates that it is not a popular business opportunity, so how can it be sold?

6. How often will you be paid? Some only pay when an associate reaches a certain amount of revenue (which if you’re a newbie will tie up your money quite conceivably for a while).

7. Are there any “undisclosed” extra fees, such as fees for checks or other payment methods? This will cut into net revenues.

8. Is there a money-back guarantee? If you don’t succeed, will the business opportunity supply at least a partial refund?
9. Does the business opportunity supply mentors and marketing materials that can be used? It’s easier to start and maintain a business opportunity with these components already in place.

10. How well known is the business opportunity? Whether it’s online or offline, some business opportunities are “household” names and are easier to promote and sell as a result.

11. What is the turnover rate in the business opportunity? Those that have a large turnover rate among members are usually poor choices. Turnover means simply the number of members that leave the biz op within each month. A large turnover usually indicates that members are not happy with their experiences.

12. How much overall does it cost? You need to be able to comfortably afford the fee of the business opportunity, or you will start out “in the red” which is not a good way to start any home-based business.

13. How much control does the corporate entity have? If everything is controlled by the corporate entity (the “home” office of the business opportunity, so to speak), your creativity and the way you market may be hampered severely.

There are many business opportunities from which to pick. Everything from larger scale offline ventures, to smaller scale online ventures exists. Research into all the above is necessary when choosing an appropriate business opportunity. Fees are sometimes necessary to cover the costs of shipping and handling, or the costs of the marketing materials. Others charge fees simply because their “name” is important to them as they have spent years building their reputation, and they only want “serious joiners”.

There also exist many free opportunities that cost nothing to join and can be a good way to experiment with marketing and the world of home-based business. But the very best business to get into as a home based business is a product driven business where you purchase only the amount of product you will consume every month and it’s a product that will benefit you. Such a business is Organic Greens. For details on the business side, email Loring Windblad directly. For product information go to organic greens.

The choice of whether to pay or not is an individual choice that should only be made when weighing all possible factors. If in doubt, simply research and patiently wait a while. After all, the biz op will always be there tomorrow (if it’s a good one)!

Loring Windblad has operated his own HBBs for nearly 40 years, is a published author and freelance writer. Loring has written grants, business plans and resumes that got the job done right. His latest HBB endeavor is http://www.organicgreens.us

Five Essential Steps to Set up Your Author’s Web Site
Judy Cullins ©2005 All Rights Reserved.

You may already have your web site up. You may be ready to create one. The biggest mistake most people make is that they don’t write their Web site to sell before they contact their web master. Here are five solutions.

Step One. Get Organized.

Just like anything else, you need to get organized first. What do you need to learn to put up an attractive, professional, book-selling site? Start a new folder called “Web Site To Do’s.” Include in a file called “My web site’s purpose.” What I can do for my readers, and what money results do I want? Make another file called “Sales letter for Book” and “Home Page Elements.”

Put these and other topics in your computer files and if you like, hard copy manila folders placed in your “Online Marketing File.”

Author’s Tip: Save only important papers or computer files, which include files on your book and its contents. Your Offline and Online Marketing Plans should be vertical and alphabetical in folders in hard files, or placed within a main computer folder, within which you place different related files.

Step Two. Know your web site’s purpose before you hire a web master.

Do you want to sell products and services, generate leads, generate interest for your book, establish credibility as the savvy expert in your field, improve communications, provide customer service, follow up on leads or sales, and get people to revisit your site to get more information that helps them make that all-important decision—to buy? While it’s good to offer a lot of free content, you must also remember your book is a business and you want to make sales.

Step Three. Preplan your Site for Selling

Think of your web site as your virtual office. You need to design each part of it to titillate and inspire your visitor to locate quickly what they want and eventually buy from you. It needs to be fast loading, and to be easy to navigate. You must know your site’s purpose before you design it.

What is the purpose of your web site? Sales? Build creditability? Show that you’re the expert? What do you want to sell? (All sites want to sell something) Answer these questions in writing now.

What visitors do you want to attract? (target audience)
Will your Web site have a theme? What is it?
What should be your visitors’ action and reaction once they arrive at your site?
What’s challenge or problem does your target visitor have?
What’s on your site such as your book to solve that challenge?
By the end of five months, what do you want to achieve? Money? How much? Clients? How Many?
What’s your technical expertise, and are you willing to learn something new, or delegate it to your inexpensive computer assistant or Web Master?

Step Four. Create an Audience Profile

Do you know who should visit your site? Which of these audiences are yours? -the targeted for your special topic, the one who wants special skills fast and easy, the general audience like The Chicken Soup series who want inspiration, or the online audience—who are primarily business people, but want all kinds of information. They may want to make a home better designed, build a better relationship, find Mr. Possible, build business income, become healed, raise spiritual awareness, prioritize goals for financial or personal success, build internet marketing skills, and more.

Before you design a word, get a visual, and mental picture of your preferred audience. What do they want? Are they internet savvy? What magazines do they read? What do they spend discretionary money on?

Step Five. Write a Sales Letter for your book and any other product or service.

If you aren’t making the book sales you want, then you either don’t have a sales letter for each book, or your present one lacks pizzazz and motivation. This is the time to leave your “writer of book self” home, and bring out your “writer to sell your book” self.

Author’s story—

My first Web site had twenty+ fine books and kits in personal growth, book writing, and marketing. Sales never went over $200 a month. To correct that, I created a new site that focused on bookcoaching to include the ten eBooks I wrote on book writing, self-publishing, online promotion, web copywriting, and marketing. For this second web site, I paid special attention to sales letters (without hype) for each teleclass, eBook, and bookcoaching opportunities to suit each visitor’s income and need.

Sales were $75 the first month, and in four months they reached $2265. The next year they went to $3000 a month. Four years later, sales are over $4500 each month, and I still work only ten months and take four vacations a year.

Your bookcoach learned it all the hard, slow way, but you don’t have to. Just be willing to open your mind to different skills you can certainly learn. You wrote a book, didn’t you? And you experienced a learning curve there too.

You have choice. Put a sales letter on your home page if you only want to market one thing—your book. Or, if you also want to promote a service and other books, put a strong headline on the number one benefit of each book or service on your home page and link it to your sales letter on another page.

Some experts write long sales letters because they think you need to give enough information to help your potential buyer make an informed decision to buy. For email promotion use shorter sales letters and for the web site, longer ones.

Yes, you can post your book on other web sites, but as an author/business person who is serious about promoting your book and creating a web presence, you will eventually want to create your own web site.

About the Author
Judy Cullins, 20-year book and Internet Marketing Coach, Author of 10 eBooks including “Write your eBook Fast,” and “How to Market your Business on the Internet,” she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, The Book Coach Says…and Business Tip of the Month at http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml and over 170 free articles. Email her at mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com.